Air New Zealand's fast track checkin kiosks for trans-Tasman trips
By David Flynn, November 8 2012
Air New Zealand is making the lot of trans-Tasman business travellers just that little bit easier with this week's launch of fast track checkin facilities at Sydney International Airport.
Available for passengers bound for New Zealand or Pacific Island destinations, the bank of 15 self-service machines can scan your passport and print out a boarding pass and bag tags in a "matter of seconds", the Kiwi flag-carrier promises.
(Yes, we know the photo's not great, but this is apparently the best that Air New Zealand could manage to send the media – something that somebody snapped on an iPhone.)
"This is an expansion of the innovation we’ve been pioneering in New Zealand which has revolutionised the trans-Tasman experience" says Bruce Parton, the airline's General Manager Australasia.
Similar kiosks are already in place at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown airports, and Parton says that four out of five travellers use these rather than conventional check-in desks.
Last year saw Qantas expand its 'Faster Smarter Checkin' service – then dubbed Next-Generation Checkin – for flights from Australia to New Zealand, with frequent flyers able to use their smartchipped Q Cards to quickly check in for their trip across the pond.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
QF
30 Dec 2010
Total posts 7
What Parton fails to mention is that they don't actually let you check-in for a trans-Tasman flight anywhere but the kiosk... I assume that the 1 in 5 that haven't used a kiosk have connected from a domestic NZ location.
I was a little frustrated with Air NZ recently in Wellington when I (VA Plat) was travelling with 4 other people (1 other Plat and 1 Gold) after we all went to the business class desk to be checked in and were not-so-politely turned away as you "Must use the kiosk". 25 minutes later after we had baggage allowances confirmed at the VA desk and tagged our 6 pieces of luggage we were off to the lounge to try and sort out our seats.
Now, I love Air NZ and I like generally like kiosks but don't get crazy!
03 Jan 2011
Total posts 665
Overall, the kiosks in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch that I've used are fine, but they're still pretty bad about recognising Virgin Australia Velocity status and how that affects things like baggage allowance and even seat selection.
QF
30 Dec 2010
Total posts 7
I've had quite good experiences with Air NZ. The only major problem I've had is with baggage allowances but hopefully change with the move to Sabre. Seat selection has been fine; I've always been able to select Space + domestically and forward seats trans-Tasman.
Also, I've found that Air NZ has much better at on board recognition than Virgin short-haul which is non-existent and other Virgin partners. At least your FF status appears on boarding passes with NZ (DJ-G for both Gold and Plat but it is separated in their systems as 'Gold' and 'Elite') so there is some comfort in knowing that you don't have to constantly get your card our to access the listed benefits which is a pain when flying with VS and SQ. (Actually had someone at SQ photocopy my card in Jakarta which added 5 mins to the check-in as "It's not showing in the system"). DL was a pain but I understand now that we should be getting 'Sky Priority' access which is all anyone at DL looks at for premium services.
Just join Star or Skyteam already :)
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